From the nineteenth century to the present day
During the following centuries, the San Pancrazio structure underwent strong transformations according to the change of taste of the times; until, in the mid-nineteenth century, the church was completely transformed according to a project by architect Giuseppe Ruggieri. The moderately baroque configuration was not the last metamorphosis of the building; as a consequence of the tumultuous events of the Napoloeonic era, the church of San Pancrazio was deconsecrated by an edict on october 20th 1808. Following the suppression of religious orders and confiscation of the property of the convents, the furnishings of the church were auctioned and dispersed, and the church was destined for sale within the Imperial Lottery of France. Following the closure of the Rucellai chapel, the Alberti triforium present on the façade was dismantled and reconstructed according to an altered form of the original composition. Access to the Rucellai chapel was formerly a fundamental element in defining the façade on the square. A large semi-circular window topped the new reconstruction of Alberti’s triforium, giving rise to an unexpected neoclassical aspect. After being the seat of the prefecture, in 1883, the ex-church of San Pancrazio was destined to house a tobacco manufacturing operation, and the transformation and tampering continued: the eighteenth century nave was divided into two floors by means of a metal slab (the bolted iron beams can be observed at present). In 1937, the church became a military warehouse, accompanying the nearby barracks, which meanwhile had been installed in the adjacent convent. Between the nineteen sixties and seventies, the church was abandoned by the military administration, and the building began to be recovered.
Modern restoration
Dal 1982 l’intervento di restauro del complesso di san pancrazio viene affidato agli architetti Lorenzo Papi e Bruno Sacchi; per la precisione, i progetti dei due architetti devono innestarsi su un parziale intervento già operativo negli anni precedenti, che aveva visto la demolizione della facciata interna barocca e l’elevazione di due tralicci a sostegno di una nuova copertura del vestibolo. Il filo conduttore del restauro, inteso non quale pura esercitazione di recupero astratto, ma di adattamento alla nuova funzionalità museale, ha puntato alla restituzione della leggibilità del monumento, in tutte le sue scansioni, dall’involucro medievale all’orditura interna settecentesca, con le ulteriori sovrastrutture protoindustriali in ferro della fine dell’Ottocento. L’intervento ex novo si caratterizza soprattutto nel dipanarsi di un percorso liberissimo – scale e passerelle nettamente individuate per forma e colori dai manufatti antichi – che permette di riconoscere appieno e di interscambiare le memorie di una storia antica e gli eccezionali documenti di una poetica moderna ed attuale, quella di Marino Marini. L’unico settore dove il progetto odierno ha dovuto intervenire con una reinvenzione radicale è la parete di fondo, corrispondente all’antico coro di cui non rimanevano vestigia alcune, risolta con una “parete di luce”, una grande vetrata scandita da una intelaiatura la cui geometria astratta ripropone le scansioni di forza dell’edificio antico.